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Guest opinion: Why being green is bringing in green for Colorado

By Sen. Michael Bennet

Posted:
06/09/2013 01:00:00 AM MDT

Colorado is internationally known as a haven for outdoor enthusiasts. Our skiing, hiking, biking, climbing, and rafting terrain lure visitors from around the world and we're consistently ranked one of the best places to live in the country.

But beyond simply providing beautiful landscapes and endless recreational activities, our state's public lands and open spaces have also become one of our most valuable economic assets.

That's because Colorado's quality of life is helping attract some of the country's most innovative and cutting edge companies, not to mention its best and brightest minds. I recently met with Boulder business leaders in Washington D.C. who said that the state's attractive lifestyle gives them a key competitive advantage when recruiting new talent. Jon Landau, the Director of Recruiting at Rally Software, and Eric Dieter, the Co-Founder of Movement Strategy, made a strong case for full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund - a case with which I agree.

This fund provides federal resources to help state and local entities acquire, preserve, and maintain open spaces, as well as fund parks and trails. Some of Boulder's most iconic outdoor gems - like Eldorado Canyon State Park and the Boulder Reservoir - were purchased or developed through this fund. And nationally, this fund has helped protect more than seven million acres of open space -- that's roughly the size of Massachusetts.

I also had the opportunity to tour Denver's Galvanize, an entrepreneurial incubator housing almost 100 startup companies, whose founders told me that much of the growth and success they are experiencing hinges upon the state's conservation efforts. People are choosing to move to Colorado to raise their families and start their businesses because it's a great place to live (the secret must be out).

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Typically, when we think about the economic benefits of our public lands, the tourism or ski industries come to mind. Many businesses that are drawn here by the lure of the outdoors, however, are actually in the high-tech, health care, and communications industries. These are the innovative companies that will create the highly paid, highly skilled jobs of the 21st century.

And the proof is in the pudding, or in this case in Colorado's thriving high-tech industry. Colorado is ranked second in the nation for entrepreneurship, innovation, and high-tech business. Ask any of these young entrepreneurs and they'll tell you that they're as passionate about Colorado's outdoors as they are about their start-up or "next big thing." A vital part of maintaining this high quality of life and valuable recruiting tool is maintaining our conservation efforts and protecting our public lands.

A recent study found that Western, non-metro counties with more than 30 percent of their public lands federally protected as national parks, monuments or wilderness areas have seen jobs increase by 345 percent over the last 40 years. By comparison, similar counties with no protected federal public land saw only an increase of 83 percent. In the Senate, we're working with Coloradans across the state to preserve our pristine public lands including Hermosa Creek and the Thompson Divide - and we were able to convince President Obama to declare Chimney Rock a national monument -- because it's not solely about protecting the environment, it's also about building our economy.

We live in one of the most beautiful states in the country; our job is to continue making conservation a priority so that it stays that way for generations to come and continues to attract new talent and investment to the state. We are in competition with our neighbors for these innovative new industries and the jobs they create. Our outdoor opportunities and open spaces are giving us the competitive edge we need to bring these companies here and that makes our public land priceless.

So come for the skiing, biking, hiking, and climbing, stay to start your own company.

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